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Business owners said they're in favor of an increase, and many support the city's new $10.10 minimum wage. But $15 an hour could cost between $100,000 and $600,000, according to Scott Rousseau of Play It Again Sports and Steve DiMillo of DiMillo's Restaurant.

Those costs will have to come from somewhere, DiMillo said.

"How much do you want to pay for chowder and a beer?" he asked.

“It’s huge. I won’t be able to pay my payroll,” said Becky Rand, owner of Becky’s Diner. “I don’t want to be forced to change things dramatically here, which is what that type of increase will do to us.”

Staff at the diner already make more than $10 an hour. They have for years.

“I try to buy locally as much as we possibly can, and they’re going to have that increase for their payroll too. So their cost of goods is going to go up, and our payroll. So it’s a double whammy,” Rand said.

The challenge also comes with paying servers, who would make $11 an hour, costing DiMillo more than $500,000.

“(It would cost) 682,000 in a year,” he said. “That doesn’t take into consideration the folks in the kitchen that make $10 an hour.”

Owners said they are afraid Portland customers could find other cities to shop and eat, hurting the city’s economy and leaving local owners with an uncertain future.

“My customers, most of them are my friends now, and I don’t want that to go away,” Rand said.

The minimum wage referendum was driven by Portlanders for a Living Wage, whose members say the city is expensive and people should make a salary on par with cities such as Seattle and Chicago.